Railway-frog



(No Model.)

N. RATGHFORD.

RAILWAY FROG.

No. 470,009. Patented Mar. 1', 1892.

20 11 lame ,16 I 7 a reasonable expense.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.NICHOLAS RATCHFORD, OF PLAIN CITY, ASSIGN OR OF ONE-HALF TO LEWIS D.EVANS, OF COLUMBUS, AND CHARLES N. BOYD, OF PLAIN CITY, OHIO.

RAILWAY-FROG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 470,009, dated March 1,1892.

Application filed August 10, 1891. Serial No. 402,211. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS RATCHFORD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Plain City, in the county of Madison and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Railway-Frogs, of whichthe following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to the improvement of railway-frogs of that classwherein the frog rail or tongue is automatically thrown by the weight ofa moving train or car, and has particular relation to that constructionof railwayfrogs shown in former patents, Nos.

. 433,148, of July 29, 1890, and 434,525 of August 19, 1890, granted tomyself and Lewis D. Evans.

The objects of my present invention are to provide improved means forautomatically returning or moving the frog-rail or tongue outward fromconnection with the main track after the passage of a train and at thesame time elevate the tongue-operating rail to its normal position, toobviate the necessity of employing springs to accomplish the aboveobjects, and to produce the desired movement of said parts in a simpleand reliable manner without unnecessary friction and at These objects Iaccomplish in the'manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a main and side track of arailway, showing the railway-frog and its operating mechanism.

'Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line a: aiof Fig.

1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line y y of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is aperspective view of the frog-operating weight and bar.

Similar figures of reference refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views.

The numeral 1 indicates one of the maintrack rails, which, as describedin the said former patents, are continuous at the frogpoint.

2 represents the outer and 3 the inner s1detrack rails, which intersectthe main-track rails at the usual angle. As described in the said formerpatents, a suitable supportingblock at, the upper side of which is flushwith the upper side of the main-track rails, is made to adjoin the outerside of one of said maintrack rails at the frog-point or point ofintersection of the rails 3 and 1. Upon this supporting-block 4 issupported a frog-rail section or tongue 5, one end of which is pivotedupon one end of said block 4, as indicated at 6. This frog-rail 5normally lies upon the blocket in a position parallel with the maintrackrails, and has its rear end supported'in such position that when movedinward, as hereinafter described, upon its pivot it will be brought intoalignment with the sections of the side-track rail 3, which, asdescribed in said former patents, are elevated to the height of saidfrog-rail.

Supported adjacent to the inner side of the outer side-track rail 2 isan operating-rail '7,

in the inner side of which is formed a longitudinal channel 8. Thisoperatingrail, as described in said former patents, is formed in twosections, hinged near the centers of their 7: lengths at 9, the outerends of said sections being pivotally connected with the side-track rail2. The upper portion of the channeled operating-rail is normallysupported, as here- .inafter described, above the outer side-track rail,and the outer end of abell-crank lever 10 is pivotally connected with alug 11, which projects from the under side of said channeled rail and.which is rigidly connected with the latter. This bell-crank lever isfurther piv- 8o otally connected, as shown at 12, with a lug 13, whichprojects downwardly from the under side of a bar or plate 14 on theinner side of the operating-rail 7. This bar 14 has its ends supportedupon suitable blocks 15, which in turn are supported upon the ties16,with which said bar is connected. The lower end of thedownwardly-extending or vertical arm of the lever 10 is jointedlyconnected or pivoted at a point between the ties in the slotted 0 end ofa lever 17. This lever 17 extends inwardly from its point of connectionwith the lever 10 in a line parallel with the ties to a point below andon the outerside of the block 4, from which point it is bent upward andthence again inward, and is pivoted, as shown at 18, to alug19, whichprojects outwardly from the outer side of the frog-rail 5, near the rearpivoted portion of thelatter. From the under side of one of the sectionsof the operatingrail I cause to depend a short bearing-arm 20, in thelower end of which is journaled the crank end of a rod or shaft 21,thehorizontal body of which extends outward fro n1 its crank portion in thedirection of the ties and bearing in suitable boxings orjournal-bearings 22, which are formed with or supported upon transversesupporting-bars 23, which extend between and are secured upon two ormore ties. On the outer side of the outer one of these bearings this rodor shaft 21 is bent at right angles with the direction of the ties, saidbent portion being flattened or squared, and provided at desiredintervals with pin perforations, as indicated at 24. This flattened orsquared portion 21 is, as shown in the drawings, made to pass looselythrough and support at the desired point thereon a suitable weight 25,which is normally supported near the earth, and which, together with thedesired portion of the shaft 21, may be suitably covered or housed toprevent the entrance of rain or snow. WVhen the weight 25 is down or inits normal position, the crank end of the shaft 21 is held at suchelevation as to result in a corresponding elevation of the centralportion of the operating-rail, resulting in the incline of the sectionsof the latter from their hinge-point toward their outer ends.

The operation of myimproved device is as follows: Atrain which has beenswitched from the main track onto the side track travels upon the latteruntil the outer car-wheels come into contact with and run upon theoperating-rail. The weight thus imparted to said operatingrail resultsin a depression of the latter, which, through the connection of theshaft 21 with the arm 20, results in a turning of said shaft within itsbearings and a consequent elevation of the weight 25. This downwardmovement of the operating-rail also serves to depress the upper andshorter arm of the bellcrank 10, and to cause a movement toward themain-track rail of the lower and longer arm of said bellcrank. Thismovement of the bell-crank results, as will readily be seen, in aninward movement of the lever 17, which, through its connection with thefrog-rail 5, results in causing the latter to slide upon its block 4 andthe upper side of the rail 1 until the beveled outer end of saidfrog-rail is in engagement with the side-track rail. As shown in dottedlines in Fig. 1 of the drawings, this movement of the fro -rail resultsin bringing the latter into alignment with the side-track rail 3 and inthe formation thereby of a substantially continuous rail. As willreadily be seen, this movement of the frograil will be accomplishedbefore the wheels of the car reach the frog-point, and admit of thepassage of the inner wheels of said car over the frog-point withoutcontact with the main-track rail, and without the necessity of formingany break whatever in the rail. The cars having passed over theoperating-rail, and the latter being thus released from weight orpressure, the weighted portion of the shaft 21 will drop to its normalposition and the crank end of the shaft will be sufficiently raised toagain drive the operating-rail in position for use. This return of theoperatingrail to its normal position will result, through the connectiontherewith of the levers 10 and 17, in a return of the frog-rail to itsnormal position upon its support and a clearing of the main-track rail.

From the construction and operation described it will be seen that themeans employed for transmitting the proper motion to the parts areexceedingly simple and are such as to produce but slight friction of theparts and render the latter durable and flexible. By sliding the weight25 to diderent points upon the bar or shaft 2], and inserting suit--able pins 27 ateach end thereof, through the proper perforations 24, theweight may be adjusted to the desired position upon its supporting-bar.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the main and side track rails, a movablefrog-rail pivotally supported, as described, adjacent to and above themain-track rail, the sectional hinged and pivoted channeledoperating-rail adjacent to the inner side of the outer side-track rail,of a bell-crank lever fulcrumed adjacent to said operating-rail andhaving its shorter arm pivoted to the latter, a lever 17 pivotallyconnected with the frog-rail 5 and the longer arm of the bell-crank 10,and means for returning the operating-rail to its usual elevatedposition, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, with the intersecting main and side track rails, thepivoted frograil supported, as described, adjacent to and above themain-track rail, a pivoted and j ointed channeled operating-rail 7adjacent to the inner side of the outer side-track rail 2,. of. a shaft21, having a crank-shaped inner end, the end of the latter journaled tothe under side of the operating-rail, the body of said shaft supportedin suitable boxings, as described, a weight upon the outer portion ofsaid shaft, and a pivoted lever connection between the operating-railand the pivoted frograil, by means of which the latter is forcedlaterally when said operating-rail is depressed, substantially asspecified.

3. The combination, with the intersecting main and side track rails, thepivoted frograil supported, as above described, adjacent to and abovethe main-track rail, pivoted and jointed channeled operating-rail 7adjacent to the inner side of the outer side-track rail 2, bell-crank 10fulcrumed adjacent to the operating-rail, its upper and shorter armpivotally connected with the latteig'a level-17, hav boxings, asdescribed, and a weight upon the ing its ends pivotally connected,respeetively,' outer portion of said shaft, substantially as with thelonger arm 0f the bell-crank 10 and and for the purpose specified.

the frog-rail 5, of a shaft 21, having a crank- NICHOLAS BATCH FORD. 5shaped inner end, the end of the latter jour- In presence of naled tothe under side of the operating-rail, HOWARD 0. BLACK,

the body of said shaftsupported in suitable E. H. REEL.

